Chocolate Cashew Cookie Dough Nice Cream

Chocolate Cashew Cookie Dough Nice Cream is proof that “clean eating” can be indulgent and delicious.

More often than not, we’re running into people who follow special dietary restrictions. Paleo, GF, dairy-free, all-the-above…I’ve been there. The past few months I’ve had to eliminate A LOT of my usual food groups to try and heal my “leaky gut.”

I can deal with no bread. No corn? Easy, peasy. But no ice cream? AAAHHHH. Had a hard time coming to terms with that one.

Of course, my ‘need-to-avoid-ice-cream’ dilemma turned into a ‘how-can-I-eat-ice-cream-without-eating-ice-cream’ challenge. And, this is what I came up with.

Sure, it’s not ice cream. I get that. But when a girl gets the urge to dig into a tub of Ben & Jerry’s, this is honestly just as good as the “real” stuff. Plus, you feel a lot better after slurping this down than you do digging into a tub of refined sugar and weird-A thickeners.

So, whether you’re following the no-ice-cream protocol or not, you can def benefit from taking some of the refined sugars out of your life. Grab a banana or two, whip up some cashew cookie dough and enjoy a bowl (or cone!) of this delicious nice cream…

If cashews aren't already roasted, roast them on a baking sheet in the oven at 350 degrees for 12 minutes. The cookie dough will taste much better if you use roasted cashews!

Put cashews in a food processor and blend for 5 minutes. The cashews should form a sticky, crumbly dough. You don't want to get to the point where it turns into cashew butter.

Add rest of ingredients and pulse a few times until the dough forms a ball.

Allow to cool completely before mixing chocolate chunks in. (If you don't let it cool, chocolate will melt and become a bit of a mess. Not that I would know from personal experience or anything 😉 )

Roll into small balls and place in the freezer to harden while you make the nice cream base.

Chocolate Nice Cream

Add all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.

Fold desired amount of cashew cookie dough balls into nice cream and enjoy immediately, or if it's too runny, (your bananas may not be as frozen as ideal), place in a large container and freeze for 30 minutes or so to set up.

Notes

*If making ahead of time, remove from freezer 30 minutes before serving to soften.